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Alaska Air, JetBlue top airline satisfaction ratings

Alaska Airlines and JetBlue continued their stranglehold at the top of the annual North America Airline Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power & Associates. The group's 2013 survey also found that passengers claim

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Alaska Airlines and JetBlue continued their stranglehold at the top of the annual North America Airline Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power & Associates.

The 2013 survey also found passengers claim to be as happy with the USA's airlines as they've been in seven years, according to the 1,000-point scale rating used in the annual ratings. This year's overall industry score of 695 points is the best since 2006, says Jessica McGregor, senior manager of J.D. Power & Associates' global travel and hospitality practice.

The ability to check in online and surf the Web in the air are among the factors helping to boost fliers' perceptions, she says about the survey's findings.

"A lot of that is due to technology and innovation that has been introduced in the industry,'' McGregor says. "All the different mobile apps (customers) can use, the different self-service kiosks . . . Those things have helped improve the experience overall.''

Among those included in the J.D. Power survey, 36% say they regularly check into their flights online. For those who say they use their mobile devices to check in, satisfaction with the check-in process scored 853 points compared with the 801-point score given by passengers who picked up their boarding passes at the main counter in the airport terminal.

As for the individual airline ratings, low-cost carrier JetBlue came out on top among all airlines. It also marks the eighth consecutive year that JetBlue was tabbed as the USA's top low-cost carrier. New York-based JetBlue earned a score of 787 on J.D. Power's 1,000-point scale, finishing ahead of No. 2 Southwest (770) and WestJet (714). Finishing in the last two spots of the low-cost carrier ratings were Frontier (708) and Southwest subsidiary AirTran (705).

Alaska Airlines also continued a winning streak, being named the top "network" carrier for the sixth consecutive year with a score of 717. The Seattle-based carrier beat out No. 2 Delta (682), Air Canada (671) and American (660). Rounding out the bottom were United (641) and US Airways (630).

But it was the gains made by bigger network carriers that increased customer satisfaction with the industry overall. Delta, for instance, came in second after Alaska Airlines among traditional carriers, moving up a spot and scoring markedly higher than last year in all categories including check-in and flight crew.

"I think it's a positive for the industry . . . that the focus is coming back to passenger satisfaction,'' said McGregor, adding that the big network carriers appear to be taking a page out of the playbook of JetBlue and Southwest, which consistently get higher marks from fliers and are lauded for their customer service.

"It's nice to have the validation from outside sources like J.D. Power to show all of our investments, which have been comprehensive in things like operational reliability, our people and product, are really paying off," says Mike Henny, director of Delta's customer experience. "There's lots of options we've given (customers) ... to interact with us.''

Delta's mobile app, for example, includes a baggage tracker that allows passengers to follow their bags from check-in to the carousel. And the carrier says it has Wi-Fi on more than 800 jets, the most of any airline in the world.

Elsewhere, even those extra fees fliers must now pay to check bags or change a flight are becoming more bearable.

Among those who pay to check their luggage, 37% said the charges were reasonable, up from 28% last year.

"I think people are just starting to accept it's part of the cost of traveling,'' McGregor says.

The survey was based on responses from more than 11,800 fliers who traveled on a major North American carrier between April 2012 and March 2013.